FIFTEEN non-Muslim women have trialled hijabs in Dandenong this afternoon as part of a social experiment, slammed by some as promoting separateness.
The experiment by two Minaret College schoolgirls was part of a short documentary being filmed for Greater Dandenong Council’s “Youth Channel” program aimed at “providing awareness, insight and education”.
The Council called on women to wear the Islamic headdress for three hours today as part of a “social experiment” for National Youth Week.
Awareness of what? Insight into what? Education about what?
Notice the Council called on women to wear it. Just women. The Council called on women to wear a hot smothery head-and-neck covering, to provide awareness of…how dirty they are? How necessary it is for women to be muffled and submissive? How women are second-class citizens?
Centre for Multicultural Youth regional services co-ordinator Heather Stewart, who wore a hijab back to her workplace, said she found the experience enlightening and was surprised by the backlash.
“I think it’s really sad that there seems to be such a lot of fear about Islam,” she said.
“I saw it as an opportunity for non-Muslim women to understand a little bit about another culture.”
But why only non-Muslim women? Why is it only women who are asked to do this? Why aren’t men also asked to do this?
Well because there is no male equivalent of the hijab.
Right, and what does that tell you?
Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad said Muslim women couldn’t go around without their hijabs.
“It is part of our religion for women to cover their hair … it’s a statement of religious observance; it’s saying, ‘I am a devout Muslim woman’,” he said.
Women couldn’t go around without their hijabs. We’re always being told it’s a “choice,” but it isn’t, is it, not when there are enough presidents like Keysar Trad around. I also love the forumlation ““It is part of our religion for women to cover their hair” – it is part of their religion for other people to do what they’re told. That’s kind of like saying “It’s part of my religion for you to buy me dinner.”
Also? That claim that “it’s a statement of religious observance; it’s saying, ‘I am a devout Muslim woman’” is bullshit. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about “covering up.” It’s about filthy harlots covering up so that men won’t be forced to rape them.
Mr Trad said the council project would be criticised by some, but it was a positive way for non-Muslims to get a different perspective.
No, it is not, because – to repeat – it’s directed only at women.
You know what? I’ve been thinking about the failure of Labour in the election. And I wonder if the kind of wooly left wing relativism related to multiculturalism we see here is putting people off the Left in general and turning people off from voting Labour. Because this idiocy, this stupidity is so craven and arrogant that the whole Left gets tarnished.
I agree that the hijab is oppressive, but so are racist bully-boys. This one is trickier than some.
As I said on facebook: Yeah but no but… the Daily Fail misleadingly and nastily swathes it in pics of niqab and burka. And speaks approvingly of Reclaim Australia and Pauline Hanson. The Dandy region is home to many refugee Hazara people, lots of hijab wearers. And we do have serious problems with anti-muslim feelings here, and women wearing hijab have been attacked for it. So it’s intended to be a nice welcome gesture for a few hours. I preferred #Illridewithyou, though. It’s complicated.
PS: since you asked “awareness of what”? The “awareness” is of what it’s like to wear hijab and be shunned, mocked, bullied and perhaps physically attacked.
Alethea, I know, that’s why I found a source other than the Mail.
I get what you’re saying, but I still think it’s a shitty idea since it involves only women, plus it normalizes the hijab.
Yeah. I’m in two minds about it. I can’t take it as all bad, because of the kindly meant welcome to the refugees and push-back against racists. Things we desperately need more of. And this is a region where there are many Muslims who’ve lost everything, and could use some kindness.
But still, there’s the repressive nature of the hijab. And it’s always women who have to be regulated by religion. Ew.
Alethea, I get what you’re saying re the anti-racism, and, yeah, nice, cool, but, but, but, but. But why do women get thrown under the bus to make others feel better. It would help the recent immigrants a lot more if the anti-racism did NOT normalize the idea behind hijabs, the idea that women are filthy harlots men will be forced to rape. We need everybody to get away from that idea, not to normalize it.
There’s that whole business about nobody can be free until everybody is free. Trying to tamp down racism while promoting misogyny is actually a waste of time.
Agreed. Oh, and just to add a bit of irony, traditional dress for Hazara women is not hijab, but a form of loose head veil that leaves hair and neck exposed. So it’s not even the correct traditional attire.
I wore a hijab once (I’m an ex-Muslim). It makes my blood boil to see bien pensant lefties think they’re doing us a favor by normalizing such degrading attire. They’d never think of wearing the stuff themselves but, here dear, let me help you on with that veil. Fucking racists!
@quixote, 6:
Here’s the thing I don’t get: why so few MEN are insulted by the masks Muslim women wear. Because they’re NOT saying “I’m a devout Muslim woman.” What they’re actually saying is, “I am so unbelievably irresistible that if you could so much as see ANY of my flesh or hair your lust would be uncontrollable. So, in order to save you from yourself, I’m covering my irresistable self up. You’re welcome! 😀 Oh, and all you other women who aren’t covered? You’re whores.”
It’s a fucking insult to every single man AND woman they walk past.
http://www.jesusandmo.net/2007/02/22/hijab/
Helene, #8
Agreed. It’s like a desegregated people emulating segregation to tell an oppressed ethnicity that they “stand with them”. It smacks of feel good appropriation nonsense. You’re wearing a hijab because you have the choice of taking it off any second you want without so much as a single insult hurled at you from the men in your society for taking it off.
I have been fortunate enough to be exempt from this oppressive branding even in my Muslim days, but one really has to be totally ignorant to not see it for what it is. It’s a male-created, sexually charged, enforced dress code used by an ultra-patriarchal society to ruin the lives of generations upon generations of women. That these western never-Muslims can point to hijabi women who don’t speak up against it doesn’t mean shit. I’m sure there were plenty of black people who obediently stayed out of “whites only” facilities too and who quietly confined themselves to designated sections of public transport. Any defense or normalization of the hijab breaks down completely as soon as you acknowledge the cold hard fact that the whole practice is as anti-choice as it gets. I laugh at anyone who is adamantly pro-choice and participates in this nonsense.
sonofrojblake, #9
It’s really not a statement about men. In Islam, sex outside of marriage is a huge dishonor, and the brunt of that falls on the woman by default.
If you’re of a western culture, you’re familiar with this narrative: women who have sex whenever they want with whomever they want are sluts. Men who do it are manly brave champions of sex. Think western rape culture and victim blaming and amplify it by a thousand or so.
I wore a hijab once (I’m an ex-Muslim).
Would wearing a wig be an acceptable substitute for the hijab?
“I think it’s really sad that there seems to be such a lot of fear about Islam,” she said.
Well, it’s rational to fear any totalitarian ideology, Islam is scary. This is another well-intentioned but misguided attempt to combat racism. For the umpteenth time, Muslims aren’t members of a ‘race’ and opposition to Islam isn’t racist. As usual, it’s the infidels who have to make the accommodation by adopting Muslim customs, perhaps Muslim women could remove their hijabs as a reciprocal gesture.
“No, it is not, because – to repeat – it’s directed only at women.”
Yes, it’s directed at women, so the naive participants are explicitly obeying the directions of an extremely misogynist ideology. I think that it’s unlikely that even the most culturally relativist woman would volunteer to be the main event in that essentially Islamic procedure, a public stoning for ‘adultery’.
“Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad said Muslim women couldn’t go around without their hijabs.”
What bullshit. Millions of Muslim women in the Indian subcontinent go about their business without wearing that hideous head-and-neck bandage.
Some of these comments really make it obvious why the idea came up. It’s a pity there’s no equivalent stereotypical muslim-identified garment for men.
It’s all about the racism of Australian society, which gets focussed on women wearing headscarves because that makes them recognisably Muslim — and yes, it’s racism, because we’re not talking about criticism of Islam as a worldview here. We’re talking about people harassing random hijab-wearing women with “you dirty brown foreign terrorist, go back to where you came from” rants on public transport, and sometimes physically attacking them in the street. We’re talking about political point-scoring over banning women in various forms of coverings from public spaces — because terrorism! — when all the actual terrorism-related finds have to do with “normal” seeming men. We’re talking about a general hate and blaming of brown people for everything from the economic situation to whatever the average bogan thinks they’re missing out on that they’re entitled to. We’re talking of constant low-level suspicion and discrimination in interacting with other people, when all you’re doing is covering your hair.
It’s pure and simple racism, and women in headscarves are easily recognised targets representing generic other-ness that every coward feels strong enough to spill that hate on.
And when people like rjw, sonofrojblake et al comment about how they’re insulted by a woman wearing a headscarf and how she should remove it to respect them, we’re seeing exactly that: Using a criticism of Islam as an excuse to police women’s attire. That’s not helping women with religious patriarchal oppression, that’s adding to it.
@15, Ysanne,
“…when people like rjw, sonofrojblake et al comment about how they’re insulted by a woman wearing a headscarf and how she should remove it to respect them, we’re seeing exactly that: Using a criticism of Islam as an excuse to police women’s attire.”
Drivel, I never made any such comments, so in my case you’re making a straw man argument.
“We’re talking about people harassing random hijab-wearing women with “you dirty brown foreign terrorist, go back to where you came from” rants on public transport, and sometimes physically attacking them in the street.”
Do you have any evidence that I have behaved like that? Your ad hominem arguments are offensive and crude. I’m an “Islamohobe” because I understand the totalitarian and oppressive nature of the Islamic ideology, I have never insulted Muslims publicly or made any ‘racist’ comments directed against them. You’re categorizing oponents of Islam as all ‘racists’, which is the same error as categorizing all Muslims as terrorists, you seem to be oblivious of your own prejudices. If you assume the moral ground again, make sure that you have a secure footing.
I’d recommend that you do research on Islam, its history and current practices.
Yeah. Ysanne, that is a very unfair comment. Also, you’re ignoring what Helene and Saad said.
rjw, in #15 you write
You’re framing the wearing of a headscarf by muslim women as an act of imposing a totalitarian ideology on their surroundings. That’s just bollocks, “infidels” don’t have to do anything but mind their own business about other people’s attire.
Removing the headscarf as a “reciprocal gesture” (reciprocal for what, exactly?) would make no difference to the level of danger posed by Islam as an ideology, or rather the existence of people who believe in it. The only effect it would have is to make muslims’ presence a tiny bit less visible, by telling women what to wear or not. This is precisely how women and their (un-)covered heads are used as a political football with no regards to their rights and humanity, and you’re engaging in it. You’re doing it in an atheist blog’s comment section so there’s less of a direct impact on the women in question than by the promotion of anti-hijab proposals by politicians and in newspapers, but it does contribute to a very hostile environment for women.
And just how hostile and harmful this atmosphere is for women is what the hijab-for-nonmuslims experiment was supposed to demonstrate to its participants.
Ophelia,
I’m not sure whether Saad and/or Helene are aware of how the situation of hijab-wearing women has recently changed in Australia. It used to be the the classic “are women being oppressed into wearing it or is it a choice?” discussion. You used to see a non-negligible proportion of women in various forms of covering in public, going about their business like everyone else. In that context, Helen’s and Saad’s arguments are perfectly valid; in fact I agree with their view of the hijab being (direct or internalised) oppression.
But the general context has changed fundamentally in the past year — suddenly a lot of the revolting racism that people used to be too embarrassed to show openly is coming to the surface, in the form of headscarf-wearing women becoming a target of frequent racist harassment and scapegoating. The “we’re just against Islam, and that’s not a race” line has become a convenient excuse to let the hate flow, and it’s women who are oppressed already who cop it. This kind of treatment of anyone is unacceptable, regardless of one’s opinion on hijabs in general.
These days I’m noticing fewer women with hijabs, niqabs, etc. in the shops, at the uni and on public transport, and the ones who are left look a lot less comfortable than before.
@18 Ysanne
(1) “You’re framing the wearing of a headscarf by muslim women as an act of imposing a totalitarian ideology on their surroundings.”
You just cannot avoid the straw man can you? You’ve inverted my argument.
(2) “infidels” don’t have to do anything but mind their own business about other people’s attire.”
Only so far, If a woman is completed covered by an all encompassing garment from head to toe and then refuses to reveal her face to be identified, because to do so ,”would be against her religion”, whose business is that?
(3) “the promotion of anti-hijab proposals’,
Where oh where, did I indicate that I’m proposing any bans on the hijab?
(4) “These days I’m noticing fewer women with hijabs, niqabs, etc. in the shops, at the uni and on public transport, and the ones who are left look a lot less comfortable than before.”
Women,”look a lot less comfortable than before”,
On which scale of comfortability? How do you measure it?
(5) “Helen’s and Saad’s arguments are perfectly valid; in fact I agree with their view of the hijab being (direct or internalised) oppression.”
So why do you support the wearing of the hijab, a symbol of misogyny, by non-Muslim women as a demonstration of “anti-racist’ attitudes?
Apparently you didn’t understand Helene’s comment about “bien pensant lefties”.
You still haven’t acknowledged your extremely offensive ad hominem attacks, of course all those who disagree with your opinions must be ignorant rednecks and of course, you know exactly what is best for Muslim women.
Oy vey!
(1) That was no inversion, but a direct quote. Your argument was that Islam is a rationally scary totalitarian thing, headscarves are a manifestation of Islam, so women in headscarves ARE rationally scary, but expect poor us to put up with it. If that’s not what you meant, please try to explain what you were trying to say.
(2)
That’s pretty different from getting harassed in public by random strangers for wearing a simple headscarf.
We’re not talking about face-veil wearers being asked in specific situations to show their faces for identification, which btw is something that worked perfectly well all along. (Not least due to the existence of female security staff.)
(3) Ah, the difficulty of understanding a comparison in a sentence. I’ll let you figure that one out. Maybe it would help to catch up on Aussie news beforehand, such as on how ideas that were floated not too long ago about banning niqab-wearing women from various public places, and the recent Reclaim Australia rallies.
(4) The non-scientific subjective “watching people around yourself” scale, which, while not suitable for a rigorous quantification of phenomena, is quite applicable for gauging general comfort levels in everyday human micro-interactions. Clearly, it’s easy to point to confirmation bias and try to deny that women in headscarves encounter a hostile environment with a racist slant, even if a number of them are saying exactly that. (For example, in surveys among muslim students at the Uni of QLD.)
(5) Because their point is not to demonstrate anti-racist attitudes. It’s to find out first hand what it’s like to be perceived as a hijab-wearing muslim woman. Not the part with being forced to cover up by one’s religion or community, but the part where a segment of Australian society thinks it’s fine to bully you. Basically — to provide people who are arguing like you did, i.e. “muslims are not a race”, some evidence that nevertheless, wearing a headscarf puts women at heightened risk of racist bullying. Evidence from a person who is considered less biased around the issue than a hijab-wearing muslim woman. Evidence from someone who is part of the mainstream white Australian society, i.e. someone who is in a better position of doing something about this bullying.
(5a) You may not realise, but I do understand Helene’s comment perfectly well. I just don’t agree that we can ignore the acute issue of hijab-wearing women being targeted by racist bullies by just saying that well, they shouldn’t be covering up anyway. Standing up for the basic rights of people that you disagree with is not a contradiction.
Ysanne, point taken. I did post about that incident on a train a few weeks ago, but didn’t realize it was part of a trend.
Thanks Ophelia. I didn’t mean to insult you or other commenters.
I’m just extremely worried to see racist and other harassment creep towards acceptability when people find some excuse in the victim’s religion. Some of It might be splash damage from asylum seekers and migrant workers being positioned as a common enemy, partly with insinuations of such people’s potential connections to terrorism.